Who Invented Artificial Intelligence, Anyway?

Key Takeaways

• AI’s first iteration dates back to the early 1950s
• If history is any indication, AI will continue to evolve and shape the ways we live and work for years to come
• The pace has never been quicker, meaning there are some very compelling AI investments cases out there right now

This isn’t another thinkpiece about ChatGPT. We’re diving into a brief history of AI to better understand where it’s headed. Read more below.

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AI from the 1950’s to 2023

The origins of AI can be traced back to the 1950s, when computer scientists and mathematicians began exploring the idea of creating machines capable of imitating human intelligence. Pioneering figures such as Alan Turing and John McCarthy laid the foundation for AI research and coined the term “artificial intelligence.”

In 1951, Christopher Strachey, later director of the Programming Research Group at the University of Oxford, wrote the first successful AI program. It’s major accomplishment? Playing a complete game of checkers.

In the 1960s and 1970s, AI experienced significant progress. Researchers developed rule-based systems, which used predefined logical rules to make decisions. In 1970, Marvin Minsky, co-founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s AI laboratory, told Life Magazine, “from three to eight years we will have a machine with the general intelligence of an average human being.”

But experts hit a wall as this early AI struggled to handle complex situations.

The 1980s saw a shift towards machine learning, a subset of AI that empowers computers to learn and improve from data. Machines began to learn patterns and make predictions, opening up new possibilities for AI applications.

This, of course, is when we saw the rise of personal computers followed by the world wide web in the early 90s. AI didn’t enjoy as much of the limelight during this era, but progress continued. In 1997, reigning world chess champion Gary Kasparov lost to IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess playing computer program. Windows developed speech recognition software that same year.

Through the early and mid 2000s, we entered an era of big data, increased computer speed, and algorithm breakthroughs that completely changed the game: Apple released Siri in 2011 and things haven’t really been the same since.

What’s next for AI?

Investors are keenly aware of the up-and-comers in the AI space and with all the buzz, it’s easy to forget that the AI innovation journey has been a long one.

AI has gone through many evolutions since its early days as a concept. It’s likely to go through many more. We’ll see its deployment in healthcare, transportation, customer service, urban planning, and many other arenas.

The bottom line

Yes, AI is having a big moment, but it’s also built on many years of research and development. Even if AI fell out of the headlines tomorrow — as it did while we all focused on the newfangled world wide web in the 90s — experts would continue to evolve the technology.

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